This week we've got a really fascinating chat with Stewart Home. Originally a punk in London in the early days of the movement, he's since forged a career as a musician, author and visual artist.

In this interview we talk at length about his early days as a punk in London in the late 70s and early 80s, and dig into how his own perception of the genre has helped to inform his outlook on music ever since. We dig into his 1994 treatise on punk rock, Cranked Up Really High, discussing his rather unique take on the genre and its legacy—including his controversial argument that punk rock wasn't actually influenced by Situationism.

Naturally, conversation drifts into how right-wing oi! music grew out from the genre, touching on figures like Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver, and the uncomfortable middle-class origins of many prominent fascist punk bands. From there, we tie things into his latest book, Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists, and the New Order in Wellness, which takes a close look at the origins of modern yoga, uncovering the grifters and white supremacists who sat at the heart of the movement as it grew throughout the mid to late 20th century. In it, he argues that yoga served as a blueprint for the tactics and ideology that permeate the modern wellness movement—and traces the pipeline from 1960s counterculture libertarianism to today's anti-government conspiracism. Which, once again, leads into the far-right. Because, y'know, that's what we do.

We thoroughly recommend both books: Cranked Up Really High is available to read fully on his website. Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists, and the New Order In Wellness currently available at all good booksellers, published by Pluto Press.

Highlights:

00:20 Welcome to the Show
02:36 Stuart's Journey and Punk Rock Insights
12:05 The Evolution of Punk Rock
17:40 Fascism and Music: A Complex Relationship
20:53 David Bowie and the National Front
31:38 The Intersection of Esotericism and Fascism
34:28 The Evolution of Link Records and Skrewdriver's Iconography
36:17 Boyd Rice and the Punk Scene
39:01 Tony Wakeford and the Controversies of Sol Invictus
42:17 The Working Class Roots of Metal and Neo-Folk
46:18 The Rise of Neo-Nazi and Fascist Music
50:55 The Intersection of Wellness Culture and Alt-Right Ideologies
56:34 The Role of Doubt and Disinformation in Modern Politics
01:00:58 The Punk Rock Influence on Chan Culture
01:06:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts